Failure to properly maintain drains was a major factor in the flooding in Flimby, according to more than 50 people who turned out at a public meeting last night.

Villagers descended on the Methodist Hall in West Lane to hear the results of a draft flood investigation report on December's floods and give their opinions to the Environment Agency, Allerdale council and Cumbria County Council.

Councillor Carol Tindall, whose ground floor was devastated in the floods, received a roar of approval from the crowd for her lengthy diatribe about the way the village had been handled.

She said: "One thing that’s come out of this flooding that is painfully obvious is that the routine maintenance is not adequate.

"They’re not being cleaned out sufficiently to get the water away and we never get the drains cleaned until after it floods.

"By routinely I mean every six months cleaning that away.

"All the weeds and that that grow into them need to be pulled out.”

Coun Tindall added that the problems had started over the last 10 or 15 years with housing developments in the area not getting drainage right.

Kath Tanner, Environment Agency flood recovery manager for Cumbria and Lancashire, said: "One of the things we’re looking at is maintenance, how the watercourses are maintained and where the problems have come from.

"I can’t ever say that we would be able to prevent all flooding everywhere but personal flood resilience isn’t about accepting houses are going to continue flooding.

"It’s about empowering communities for you to be able to stop flooding quicker than we ever could."

Coun Tindall asked for the village hall to be transformed into a community centre with sandbags and a siren to alert villagers in the event of future flooding.

Mrs Tanner added: "It’s these sort of community measures that the agency can’t respond as quickly as."

More than 100 homes and businesses were hit by flooding during Storm Desmond in December as rain overwhelmed Barrel Arch, Penny Gill, Furnace Gill and Risehow Beck.

Councillor Keith Little said Barrel Arch was responsible for 90 per cent of the village's flooding.

Another common complaint was that the felling of trees in the Great Wood above the village meant there was nothing to hold the water up, leaving a torrent of water free to hit homes.

Mrs Tanner acknowledged that management of the wood needed to be investigated.